The Wild Wild West

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"Times up" Andrews muttered. "I really hoped he'd see reason".

He started walking towards the doors. He knew the Bandit wouldn't fire till he was close to the door (to save ammunition if nothing else so it wasn't until he was almost next to the doorway that he saw the bandit lying on the ground. Andrews rushed inside, knelt next to the man and checked his pulse. Alive, and if the blood on the back of his head was any indication, the blood covered gold bar on the ground was the cause. "Now who the hell did that?" He asked himself "I'll have to thank them later if I ever find out." He tied the mans hands behind his back and walked back outside. "Mayor! Bandit's down. Looks like someone hit him on the head, but I don't know who. Did you manage to stop the other Bandits?"

 

Dave walked up the bank, seeing the Sheriff at the entrance.

"Nope, they took out the Station Master and got away on the train, I'll put a call into the next few stations, get the Sheriffs there to check the train, hopefully they will be to stupid to get off before then."

Dave wandered back to his office to make the calls.

 

Since no one on the street seemed injured, Samantha knelt by the horse. The animal was covered in cold sweat. Its skin trembled visibly, and it looked up, with huge, sorrowful eyes.
"Easy, beautiful." - Sam whispered and gently stroked the horse's neck. She soaked some cloth with opium tincture and stopped the bleeding as best as she could.

By that time, the sheriff had exited the bank, and Sam headed that way, her little doctor bag in hand.

-------------------------------

Preston could hardly believe his eyes. The sheriff walked in, picked up Charles and walked out again... paying no attention to him.

"Well, I'll be damned..." - he smiled and shook his head, hiding in the back of the room. He waited a few more seconds, and then started for the door.

As he passed by the dead woman on the floor, Preston's face darkened. He wished that he had never heard the name Max Crowler. Shooting a man who draws his gun at you was one thing, but killing an unarmed woman... for all his faults, Preston had some principles. He took off his hat and crossed himself. Realising that his black raincoat would make him easy to spot on the street, he covered the body with it, before moving on.

Counting on the hostages to be too shocked and disoriented to point him out to the law, Preston slowly walked out of the bank. Every fiber of his being urged him to run once he reached the street, but he forced himself to continue walking slowly, and even nodded his head to a brown haired woman he passed by.

 

"Hey, thanks, man." Johnny said gratefully, sitting on the ground and massaging his wound. He gave a slight wince...gotta find a doctor for that.
He looked around the room. The station master cowered under Gabe's gun, legs shaking miserably. Johnny gave him a friendly smile.
"Easy, mate, we won't hurt ya if you listen to us. Hey, Pierce!"
"Yeah?" came the muffled answer, Pierce holding his mouth in pain.
"Go check out the passengers. Grab some jewellery."
"Righto, boss."
"And don't hurt nobody, get it?"
Sighing, Johnny turned back to Gabe. "Y'know, Maxy screw us up real bad. He had to kill someone...and now we're in deep horse manure, and I have no idea where Charles and Preston are. Still, at least we got the loot, yeah?"

 

"All d' more t' share 'tween the three o' us," Gabe said, a fake smile spread over his face as he leant down to wrap Johnny's arm with a handkerchief. It barely made it round his arm and he was struggling to knot it. "But hell, Johnny," He said, the smile disappearing, "by my way o' thinking, dere's gonna be a posse on our tails come sundown. an' I doubt de' gonna be lookin' for prisoners. We gonna hole up or run? I don't see no other way round 'dis, 'cause I sure as hell ain't turning myself in." Gabe gave up on wrapping the wound as the handkerchief kept falling off. "Just push on it for now, we'll get somethin' proper for it later."

 

Pierce soon returned with a handful of loot, which he used to enrichen the bag of cash. The station master, looking out the window, timidly alerted the gang that they were, in fact, nearing the next township.
"Alright, gang, let's think here. What do we do next, how d'we get off?" Johnny asked conversationally.
"Y'mean you didn't think about it, boss?"
"Shut up, okay? I'm the one who came up with the plot up to here. It's your turn to chime in."

 

"If dere be a couple of hoss's in d' cargo o' dis train we could ride out into d' country before no man sees us." suggested Gabe, "If'n dere ain't none, I say we detach the back end and blaze right through 'til dere ain't no steam left, cutting d' telephone wires as we go so no one noes what we done. Maybe we'll find a better place to getaway."